It is well known that the deoilers used to separate the air that is entrained in the oil in the bearing compartments and gear boxes of a gas turbine engine, must be designed with a minimal amount of pressure drop. Any back pressure developed by the deoilers causes a pressure build-up in the bearing compartment which could, if left unattended, cause the oil to escape from the compartment.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,114,446 granted to Giersdorf et al on May 19, 1992 entitled "Deoiler for Jet Engine" which includes Allan D. Krul as a joint inventor who is common to the present patent application and which is commonly assigned to United Technologies Corporation discloses a deoiler that includes a high speed rotating hollow shaft that transfer the separated air to the breather valve prior to being vented overboard. The problem inherent in this system is that the vortex flow in the high speed hollow shaft results in a pressure loss that manifests a back pressure that ideally should be eliminated.
This invention includes a baffle adapted to be fitted into the hollow shaft so as to minimize the pressure loss and hence reduce the back pressure that would otherwise be felt by the bearing compartment.